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LONDON (AP)—Javier Hernandez scored twice in a 4-0 victory at Wigan on Saturday, helping first-place Manchester United restore a four-point lead over Arsenal in the Premier League.

The Mexico striker scored off Nani’s low cross after 17 minutes and took a pass from Wayne Rooney in the 74th for his 12th goal of the season. Late goals by Rooney and Fabio da Silva completed the rout.

United now awaits important games against Chelsea and Liverpool.

“To win 4-0 away from home at a place like Wigan is very good. … It’s an acid test going to Chelsea and Liverpool,” United manager Alex Ferguson said.

United has played the same number of games as the rest of the top four. Second-place Arsenal plays in the League Cup final against Birmingham on Sunday when Manchester City hosts Fulham in the league.

Tottenham and Chelsea, who are fourth and fifth, have the weekend off because they were to play the League Cup finalists.

In the race against relegation, Wolverhampton climbed out of last place and the drop zone with a 4-0 victory over Blackpool. The match was overshadowed by the death of former Wolves and Tottenham defender Dean Richards at 36 on Saturday. Richards, who played for the Wolves between 1995 and 2001, died after a long illness.

Victories for Aston Villa and Everton put them five points further ahead of the relegation zone. Villa beat Blackburn 4-1 and Everton defeated Sunderland 2-0. Wigan is now only being kept off the bottom by West Ham, which is two points behind and hosts Liverpool on Sunday.

MADRID (AP)—Lionel Messi scored on a rare header, and Barcelona won 3-0 at Mallorca to open a seven-point lead over second-place Real Madrid in the Spanish league despite missing four regulars.

Barcelona has 68 points and Real Madrid has 61 following a 0-0 draw at Deportivo La Coruna.

Mesi looped the ball over goalkeeper Dudu Aouate in the 38th minute. Messi leads the league with 26 goals, two more than Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo. Of Messi’s 169 goals for Barcelona, this was just his seventh on a header.

David Villa scored in the 57th and Pedro Rodriguez in the 66th. The three Barcelona forwards have combined for 82 goals this season, with Villa and Pedro scoring 20 apiece.

Barcelona was missing midfielder Xavi Hernandez, defender Carles Puyol and goalkeeper Victor Valdes because of injuries and right back Daniel Alves because of yellow card accumulation.

ROME (AP)—Bologna won 2-0 at Juventus in the Italian league behind goals by Marco Di Vaio in the 49th and 66th minutes.

Bologna is 11th with 35 points, while Juventus is seventh with 41 following its second loss in seven days.

First-place AC Milan, which has 55 points, hosts second-place Napoli, which has 52, on Monday. Third-place Inter (50) is at Sampdoria on Sunday.

BERLIN (AP)—Lukas Podolski scored a late goal, giving Cologne a 1-0 win over Freiburg in the Bundesliga. Cologne has won five in a row at home and moves up to 11th place.

Podolski lifted the ball over Oliver Baumann for his 12th goal of season.

Christian Schulz scored in the last minute for Hannover, which won 1-0 at St. Pauli. Hannover moved into third place, but can be overtaken if Bayern Munich beats first-place Borussia Dortmund in the late game.

Mainz won 2-1 at Hoffenheim, Kaiserslautern drew 1-1 with Hamburger SV, and Raul Gonzalez equalized to earn Schalke a 1-1 draw at home to Nuremberg.

PARIS (AP)—Rennes beat Lens 2-0 for its fourth straight win and moved into first place in the French league.

Razak Boukari put Rennes ahead with a powerful shot into the top corner of the net in the 14th minute. Victor Hugo Montano added a second goal in the 70th, beating the offside trap to collect a pass from Jerome Leroy and score with a low shot.

GLASGOW, Scotland (AP)—Hearts was held to a 0-0 draw at Aberdeen, squandering a chance to take second place in the Scottish Premier League.

Hearts is a point behind Rangers, which plays St. Johnstone on Sunday in the first of three games in hand over the third-place club.

First-place Celtic goes to Motherwell on Sunday, eight points ahead of Rangers. Celetic has played two more matches than its Glasgow rival.

Hibernian beat Inverness 2-0 for its fourth straight league win but remains 10th in the 12-team league.

Labels: defeats, league, PREMIER, United, Wigan

The club’s board made a “unanimous” decision to relieve the Italian of his duties and place him on ‘gardening leave’ after their 3-0 defeat at Manchester City, which completed a run of 13 defeats in the club’s last 18 matches.

Di Matteo’s departure – with West Brom outside the relegation zone by virtue of goal difference alone – prompted rumours that Sam Allardyce or Martin O’Neill might return to management.

However, former Newcastle manager Chris Hughton was established as the bookmakers’ early favourite. Brighton manager Gus Poyet — a former team-mate of Di Matteo’s and currently fourth in the League Managers Association’s performance table — and St Johnstone manager Derek McInnes are also understood to be in the frame.

Close friends of Di Matteo said he was irritated not to have been able to make proper reinforcements last month and in a statement released through the LMA, the 40 year-old explained that he was shocked by the club’s decision.

“I was extremely surprised and disappointed to be relieved of my duties,” he said. “Winning promotion to the Premier League with West Brom last season was without doubt one of the highlights of my career and certainly my managerial career.

“Playing in this league is tough and we have had to compete against some fantastic sides, but we have shown that we can compete with the best. Apart from the first week of the season, the club has not been in the bottom three. I am disappointed that I don’t now have the chance to lead the team through this crucial period and keep them in the league.’’

Richard Bevan, chief executive of LMA, added: “Roberto represents yet another victim of the ‘hire and fire’ mentality that pervades in our game.”

Di Matteo’s dismissal was also met with surprise by supporters, not only because West Brom have not been known as a sacking club – as chairman Jeremy Peace was at pains to point out, they have had just four managers in 11 years — but because of the relative progress made by the side. Despite their 6-0 opening-day defeat at Chelsea, the team enjoyed a strong start to the season, making a brief appearance in the top four.

Di Matteo was praised for his commitment to attacking football, yet Peace said in a statement that the board had lost confidence in his ability to pull the club out of its tailspin.

“Our poor sequence of results stretches back more than three months and there has been little sign of it coming to an end,” he said. “If this run continues much longer, achieving our goal of retaining our Premier League status will become increasingly difficult. That is why we felt compelled to act now.”

Control has temporarily been handed to first-team coach Michael Appleton but the club hope to have a new head coach installed in time for a crucial home match against West Ham this weekend, and certainly before the following Sunday’s home fixture against Wolves.

Although Allardyce, O’Neill and Martin Jol have been mentioned as possible replacements, the club have stressed that any appointee would be required to fit into the club’s “existing set-up” and work under sporting and technical director Dan Ashworth.

Labels: after, defeats, disastrous, Matteo, Results, Roberto, Telegraphcouk